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FCC Rejects Receiver's Challenge To Admonishment
December 12, 2013 at 4:32 PM (PT)
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The FCC has denied receiver GEORGE R. REED's petition for partial reconsideration of a letter decision by the Media Bureau admonishing REED for not submitting to the Commission a court order involving Regional Mexican WHNR-A (1360 LA PODEROSA)/CYPRESS GARDENS FL.
The station was involuntarily assigned from GB ENTERPRISES COMMUNICATIONS CORP. to REED's receivership in AUGUST 2012, based upon a court appointment of REED as the receiver. LA PODEROSA, a creditor, contended that the court order was unclear as to the extent of REED's authority over the station; the Commission said it would act anyway but would “honor and give effect” to any future clarification by the Court on that issue. LA PODEROSA appealed in SEPTEMBER, saying that a JUNE court order that REED had not filed said that REED's authority extended only to the assets of GB’s principal, MARTIN SANTOS, and not the company itself, which, LA PODEROSA noted, makes a major difference in its ability to collect on its debt.
REED contended that he did not need to file the JUNE order with the FCC because it did not modify or clarify the original Emergency Order, but in APRIL 2013, the Commission ruled that the order should have been filed and a Transfer of Control application rather than an assignment application was applicable, and rescinded the assignment, telling REED to refile as a Transfer of Control. The court directed REED to comply, he did, and the transfer was granted, but the Commission admonished REED for not filing the court order and rejected his contention that he filed the document with a different application and that when that application was dismissed, it meant that the Commission had concluded that the order was not material.